A nonsmoking prisoner filed a pro se complaint, alleging violation of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights as the result of exposure to secondhand smoke. The correctional officer defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that Perez had not met his burden to prove that his health was unreasonable endangered and that the defendants acted with deliberate indifference to his well-being. The district court (Sleet, J.), granted summary judgement, noting that “at minimum, Perez was transferred to a cell with a non-smoker after he filed the instant complaint.” The court also ruled that the doctor’s note offered into evidence by Perez was insufficient to establish that his exposure to secondhand smoke caused actual health injury.
2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13095 (U.S.D.C. Del. 2001).